Filming Dates

Now that we have finished our storyboards and shot list. And also think that we have finalised where we want to shot. We are now just checking the locations to make sure that they are suitable, for what we want them for. We have also spoke to the actors which we want to be involved in the video and tried to find some days which both they are free and also both myself and Roisin.

We originally were going to film with the HD camera but once looking at the book we had, had trouble finding days when we new we would both be free and also the actors. Also as there is only 1 HD camera in school we had to think about how we would get the camera from the previous group. Because of these reasons we decide that it would most probable be best to use the normal tape camera. This way we will know that we have the camera and do not have to worry about getting it from someone and also parsing it on to the next group. Another point which we found was if we had to go out to film another day we would be able to do this as we would already have a camera.

Dates which we plan to film.

The dates which we are planning to film, which are going to be best for both myself and Roisin and also the actors involved. The dates which we have decided are:

Monday 13th December 2010 - 4:00 - 6:00pm. hopefully we plane to be able to film everything which we have decided for location 1, which we have had to move from the 6th form hall to the auditorium. We hope that this will not take to long. And as I have had experience with using the lighting desk we will not need anyone to help us operate that.

Monday 3rd January and Tuesday 4th January 2011 - All day. within this time space we are planning to try and get all of the outdoor shots completed. As we know that the days are shorter and that it is going to be cold we are planning to film over two days so that we can try and keep everything with the same kind of natural light available.

After this we will just have our scene within a bedroom which we plan to film once back at school, or during the holidays when ever we are free.

Test shots.

Once looking at the video of how to use final cut we both decided that it would be very useful to have a practice on some of the edits which we want to use as they are more complex than what we used last year.

One of them was the idea of having the screen turn round so that the female started off walking on the bottom and ended up walking on the top of the screen. Below is the 1st draft of working with this and the outcome of what we have been working on.

To start off with I found that I was struggling with how to work the programme, but after a while of playing around I worked it out and got the hang of what I was doing. While experimenting with this it took me a long time before releasing that a circle is 360° and half a circle would be 180°, this then made it a lot easier when working on turning the screen. One thing which we found we did not like was the way we had a black mark around the outside of the screen, this we were unable to get rid of.

In the next lesson, we decided that we would re-shot the characters walking towards the camera at the height which we thought would be best. We also decided to look at having a go at layering different clips over the top of each other.

This was something which we both found very difficult to work out, and wish that I had looked at some videos before, for help. Once getting the hang of how to work out what we were doing, we were OK and managed to crop each other different frames and then layer them over the top of each other. One problem which we found is that the camera did not stay in one place and had moved between the shots. This is something which we are going to have to work on as it did not look very nice and was unclear.

Test Angles.

In the process building up to filming, both myself and Roisin thought that it would be a good idea to look at some test angles. This would then be used when we went off to film with daisy and jazz in the auditorium.

As we knew that we had a limited time to get all of the filming done, we wanted to make sure that we were both well organised and knew what we wanted.

These are some of the pictures which we took, of ideas about angles. This was to hopefully get the best shots, for our video.




After doing this we both new that there were a number of shots which we knew we wanted to use, nit would depend on where we could put the camera in the auditorium. We also found that we got a couple of nice angles which again we would have to work. As we were not sure if they would be possible. this was mainly down to if the light would catch the camera. And we would end up with not seeing anything.
This process has helped us a lot as we know feel that we are more prepared and ready for the filming, and know what we want.

Final cut.

As we are going to be using final cut for our editing, we found that it would be very useful to look up how to use the programme and but myself and Roisin have never used the programme before.

This is a video which I found which goes through some of the basic, and how to use the programme. This I think is going to be very useful as I need to know how to use the programme slightly, before we get working on editing our video. Also I have found that was we have a number of things which are quite complex that we are going to have to do some test shots and try using final cut to see if this is possible. This video below has helped in some ways of working out how to use the programme.



There were a number of videos which were had to follow but found that this was the best one as it showed you what to do as they were doing it on the screen. Now that I know how to use the basics of the programme I feel that it will be easier, as I will not be diving in not knowing what to do.

Within one part of our video we want to layer a number of shots over the top of the other. For this I went off and researched how I might be able to do this. I did not find this video until after trying something out at school with the help from out teacher. Hopefully next time I will be able to try this out and see if it is easier to use.

Marking Criteria - Planning & Research

Looking through the exams boards points in which we have to address to achieve the hightest marks for our project, mysekf and Louis have concluded that we have a few things in which to improve on our blogs that we can achieve the best marks possible.

Both of us have worked hard to compare other music videos and look at what the directors did to achieve the great quality in which they are recognised for. However though Louis has done one post which consists of looking at past student work, I myself have not. So this seems to be our first target: to look at past student work and see if it can inspire us to do similar or better.

We have looked at and disscussed costumes for our characters within the video it seems that props are also needed to make the set appear more realistic and well researched.

Having looked at other students blogs I have found that some have ceated their own time maps of when they wil be filming, as myself and Louis feel that it is best to keep as oranised as possible we have decided to look into creating our own time map. However we only have very few days availiable to film so this may be insignificant due to the short amount we have.

For the most part our blog has been well designed and been kept simple and precise, however there are one or two video posts which differ in size,we may improve this by making all the videos on our blod the same size so as not to distract the viewers or confuse them.

Throughout the start of the project myself and Louis have dicussed using different technologies, this needs to be shown on our blog as proof of the research we are doing to improve our video. We have discussed putting up blogs about this.

To conclude we feel that though our blog is in need of some small and big changes we are doing quite well inkeeping up-to-date with our progress, for that we have given ourselves a mark of 15 which is a high Level 3, however we still want to improve this and wil continue to do so.

Previous work - Addicted to Bass (2009)

Puretone – Addicted to Bass (2009) - Thurston Community College

Within this video I have seen a couple of points which we have been thinking about. From this I am able to see how affective it will be and what we could do in our video. This has also given me the confidence to carry on with these ideas as I now know that they are possible.




Over all I think that this video really works and the narrative of the piece is fitting to the song. There are some elements which I am not as sure on as others. But feel over all that the whole video works as one.

I really like that way that they have included the two different sides of the character in some of the same shots. Using the split screen and the dissolve out. This really works and makes you think about what is real and what is not, also who is the real character within the piece. This is also used again within the section where we see multiples of the character dancing on and around amps. This again works as it makes you think about what is really. It also works as it is showing how the “bad ass” side is coming through and pushing the other out to take over. This is going to be something which we want to try. We will have to try this number of times to get it right as we want it to look like a single image. Which we know will take time and a lot of work.

One thing which I know is going to be difficult is the lip syncing. Within this I feel that they have managed to cover this really well. And it seems as if she would be singing the real song. This is also helped by having the girl fit the role which she is playing.

Some sections where we have the character inside a night club work but are sometimes unable to see what is going on which then does not make the action as clear. These sections work really well within the video. But could possible think about what is seen in the end result due to lighting. This is something which we are going to have to think about and most probably try to make sure that we get it right.

One thing which I was not sure on and could of done with some work is the transition to watching the cars go from normal to really fast. This was because it seemed to move slightly and jump forward. This is something which maybe could have been looked at to make it as smooth as possible.

Over all I think the video really works, and has given me some ideas about what is going to be possible and what is not. Also what works best in some of the more difficult sections.

Costumes

Today myself and Louis discussed costumes for each of the characters, we hoped that through the costumes we could interpret the personalities of each of the characters and in some ways portray the story-line of each character simply by the colours of their clothing:

ARTIST:

white shirt

grey waist-coat

grey trousers

black boots/shoes

These are all neutral colours which we hope will show the artist as a story-tellers of the characters lives, though he will eventually become involved. There is also a link to what the Mumford & Sons main singer wore in some of their other music videos.

FEMALE CHARACTER:

thick cream cardigan/tunic-top

light blue jeans

brown boots/shoes

This outfit was chosen as it is normal and everyday, we hope that because of this the audience watching will be able to connect with the character. It will hopefully be easy to move in for some of the "running/dancing" sequences. The colours particularly are important as they must be light to show her innocence and how fragile she is, we hope this will allow the audience to pity and connect with her.

DANCER: (depending on choreography)

1. black leggings

black skirt (light and floaty)

black top

pumps

2. dark leggings

dark top

pumps

At this moment Louis and myself are unsure whether we will go for a very typical "dancing" look or and everyday casual theme. It does have to be easy to move in, and the clothing will not be "floppy" as we wish show the movement of the Dancer's body throughout the piece.

MALE CHARACTER:

dark jacket

dark shirt - smart

dark jeans

black shoes

By creating a "dark look" we hope the audience will see something sinister about this character. I hope for there to be a business like impression about him which will create him as a cold and calculated character. Though he is only in a few scenes he has to make a lasting impression so that the audience do not forget the narrative behind the music video.

Shot List.

These are our shots lists for each location. Roisin has been working on getting these completed while I was absent from the lesson. For this we have got a different shot list for each location which we want to shoot our video in. this was something which Roisin was able to get on with while I was not in the lesson. This is because we had, had a thorough talk about what kind of shots we would like to use to get the best possible result.

Below is our shot list for each location.

Location 1 - 6th Form hall.

Location 2 - The Field.

Location 3 - The Woods.

Location 4 - Beadroom.
Location 5 - The cave.

Storyboards

Over the past couple of lessons, both myself and Roisin have been looking at getting our story board sorted out so we would be able to move onto getting our shot list and locations sorted out. Once these elements are completed we will be able to start shooting.

For our story board we have coloured sections in. we have done this so we are able to tell the difference between who is who. The way in which we have sorted this out is to colour them in as Artist, female character, dancer and male character (this is the same as the artist as he is only in a couple of sections. But we needed something to show the difference between male and female.)

On page 3, we have an example which we had forgotten to add into the story board. For this example we had the idea to split the screen ¾ to ¼ in the larger half seeing the dancer or elements of the narrative which we have during the piece. And in the smaller section we are able to see the artist playing. Also we like to see the artist scrolling down from his face to the guitar. This is so we can maximise seeing the artist.

We have also got sections when we have not decided what types of shots and angles which we wanted to use. This is when we wanted to use elements of dance. So far we have not quite choreographed what is going on in these sections, so at this moment we do not know what shots and angles would work best.

Location Scouting

During class myself and Louis discussed where we would want to shoot our music video, we came up with three locations. The main on being the forest in which the female character would be seen living her loved one and where the artist would most of the climax of the song. It would also be used for some of the verses in between. Close to where I live there is such a location which I feltwould be best for us to use below are some pictures and a description of where the scene may be used in our video:

I feel this would be an excellent shot to use for the female character walking away from the old lover as there is a long stretch of path way so the audience could see the distance between them.

This field could be used for some of the dancing spaces as it is a good open ground, and the choreography will be able to spread out.

The trees and forest surrounding these fields can also be used in our video for the climaxed moments when the female character is running, this idea was inspired by the original "Dog Days" video.

Casting

Over the past couple of weeks both myself and Roisin have been working hard to try and get as much as we possible could done within our research and development process so we would be able to film as soon as possible. then giving us more time to edit our music video as we both knew that this was going to take the longest amount of time.

In the pat couple of weeks we have managed to go through all of our lyrics and work out what is happening when and what kind on shot we thin would suit this best. At the moment we are still in the process of finishing our story board and putting together our shot list. This is to make it easier for when we go out filming. But before we can go out filming we had to get a cast of people to play the characters and the artist.

We knew from the very beginning that we did not really want to use a whole band within our piece as we had both agreed that from watching previous work that it is a lot harder to get the best quality if there are a lot of people involved. We also wanted to have a convincing performance. For this we thought about who we knew who could play the guitar, as we wanted a convincing performance. originally we asked on of our friends Ben Sayer, this was for a number of reason.

1. We knew he was able to play the guitar
2. He fitted the kind of image which we both thought would suit the song
3. We knew him from school so it would be easy to stay in contact.

Unfortunately he was not sure how busy he was going to be over the Christmas holiday which is when we were thinking most of the filming would have to be done. As for this we had to find someone else.

Roisin then had the idea of asking Jazz Bullen if he would be free over the Christmas holiday and if he would be interested in being in our video. Again we had the same reasons for asking him as we had with Ben. We were lucky as Jazz said yes to doing the video which means we are now able to move on and start planning days when we could possible shot.

We also had to look for two other people to be involved within our video these are the female character who can also be the dancer who we want to appear. And finally the male character. These were much easier to find then the artist as one of our friends has been dancing for years so we knew she had a good dance background, we also thought she would suit the role of the female character. And again she said ye to working with us. Finally we had our male character we asked Ainsley as we needed someone who we could trust to be there and available for when we wanted to shoot. Again Ainsley said yes and we had all of the cast which we needed.

Jazz Bullen - Artist

Daisy Henwood - Female character and dancer

Ainsley Hope -Male character

Previous work - Mr Bojangles (2007)

Previous work. Mr Bojangles (2007) Thurston Community College



This music video is a narrative based video, which tells us the story of “Charlie Chaplin” and his trip to the future. Within this video there are a number of very successful parts which worked and made this video. One of these was the way in which they used colour and black and white. It worked really well how they made transitions between the two, moving between the future and his current life. This was very helpful and helped to move the story along. There was a very good attempt at the 360° shot, which worked very well but found it was weaker than maybe was intended as it was unsteady. I like the way in which they have used two locations which contrast each other. Firstly they have the oldie looking street which is seen in black and white. And then the contrast of London which is the big city where everything happens. We are able to see how they have included some of Goodwin’s six into this piece. Having a clear reference to the lyrics and visuals and also including intertexual reference. Over all I think this video works really well, and has a number of different elements which we might considered to include into our video.

Parts which I like:
• The use of black and white works really well as it suits the style of the piece
• The transition between the black and white to colour is clear and works well together and makes the change clear about what is going on. Helps to show the narrative.
• Liked the different angles which were used when he was chancing his hat.
• Liked the way that the cuts start to speed up when the music speeded up.
• Transition at 02:20. Works really well as they both flow into each other smoothly.

Parts which did not work as well:
• Found that the piano playing did not work as well
• I would have liked to see more of the character singing, as it only happened once and worked really well when it was used.
• Some of the shots which were used where slightly unsteady.
• Like the 360° shot of “Charlie chaplin” but found it very unsteady which did not make it as strong.
Areas which I may do differently:

• Would like to see more of the character singer, as it worked really well.
• I would have the character to be seen doing more tourist things rather than establishing shots of the location.
• Would have had the entrance back into the black and white world the same as going into colour to keep it the same.
• Maybe not film in places like London, as it Is not that easy to go back and re-co shots if they did not work.

From watching this I have learnt that to make sure that we are able to get the best possible video that we can we need to think about the locations which we are going to use. As within this video parts of it are filmed in London. Meaning that if any shots are needed to be re-filmed this would not be possible. by using a location closer to home we will be able to go out again and re-film if needed. I can also see that the link between black and white and switching to colour works really well with the equipment which is available. The one thing which we need to make sure that we look at is getting the correct point on when to switch so that they flow naturally. I liked the narrative based video but feel that there could have been more elements of singing or playing an instrument, which I feel we should include into our video as it keeps the connection to the artist as well as the narrative which is going on.

Music Video Study: Aggro Santos ft. Kimberly Wyatt - Candy

This video is clearly about the dance and the performance, there is a club like feel which links both the music and the visuals. The lyrics are a repetition the whole way through with some variation towards the end. There are many voyeuristic treatments of the female body, however Kimberly Wyatt shows herself to be a confident woman, using her sexuality to make her dancing stronger and more fun for the audience. Whereas Aggro Santos uses his style of rapping to bring the crowd together and jump to the beats of his music.

The video style used is very poular with the "hopeful youths" of today, this video is not only promoting the artist; as the video main focus is them and they are in nearly every shot. It is also showing however young teenagers live life to the full and throw wild parties where everyone covers themselves in luminous paint. Not only do the artist address the crowd they are performing too but they address the cameramaking the audience want to be where they are and join in the fun.

There are clearly intertextual links to other music videos as it is not uncommon for rap/pop videos to be set in a club as this is where there music is most likely to be played. This link sends a message to the audiences watching the video that this song will only be played in places where it is "happening", where there a huge crowds which will rave and jump to the music making it popular and "cool" for the young generations.

The full video was released by Aggro Santos himself on his own YouTube site, showing viewers his ownership to the video and it's music. By doing this he not only pushed the public opinion of his video but he promoted himself and his record company for other listeners.

Music Video Study: All American Rejects - Move Along

The video was originally inspired by a fan-made version which included some of the quick edits within the piece. The video mainly focuses on the main singer Tyson Ritter as he appears the "face" of the band, there appears to be many narratives within the video, all showing unhappy endings for the characters. However the message in the lyrics "all you got to do is keep it strong, move along, move along, just to make it through" is shown throughout the video.

The relationship between both the visuals and the lyrics is clever in the fast movement of each scene. Though the editor has paid close attention to the detail and made sure that though the clothes, background, even hair style of the artist changes he does not move position. It is also noticable that it must have taken a long time to make sure that the lip movement was not out of sinc with the lyrics of the music; it is all kept in time.

There are elements of performance within the video, especially towars the end, during these scenes there are the classical rock-band shots. With many close-ups of the singer engaging the audience watching by singer directly to the camera. There are also angled mid shots of the bass players and the drumer; the drums beating on the big important beats emphisies them.

There may be possible intertextual references as there are scenes within hospitals and some dramatic scenes between lovers; this could be assosiated with soap-operas and the drama that takes place within those narratives. Yet there is a more naturalistic feel to these scenes which helps the audience connect with what it happening in the video.

Analysis of "The Cave" Lyrics

Over these past weeks during lessons, Louis and myself having been working on to link the visuals of our video to the lyrics. We found a copy of the lyrics and annotated them in detail before turning this work into a story-board. Below is a copy of our annotated lyrics:

Directors Study: Jonas Akerlund with Lady GaGa - Paparazzi & Telephone

Akerlund is a Swedish film and music video director, well known for his work with such artists as Madonna, who's video "Ray of Light" won him a Grammy Award. Before that he had experience in music; playing with the black metal band Bathory, because of these achievments Akerlund had made a name for himself and his talent recently came to the attenion of Lady GaGa. Well known for her own acomplishments and outrageous concept ideas, together the have made their mark on Music Video history.

Before Lady GaGa, Akerlund had worked with other artist such as Christina Aguilera and her video "Beautiful", for the director and the artist they both wanted it to be a video that would connect universally with those who felt a connection to each narrative in the video. In relation to other female artists Akerlund has also worked with Madonna, he has done several videos with her, most recent is "Celebration". The videos concept is very much based on the celebration of Madonna's career and Akerlund chose to encompass and dark music imageand focus on the artist herself. She appears in almost every shot with her dances doing most of the choreographed moves as she performs some moves.

For Lady GaGa's video "Paparazzi" both director and artist agreed that the video was to be a short film, this plot then developed into "Telephone", which anounced "to be continued..." at the end. So there is a promise of more to come. Akerlund directed both of these videos, his wife was a stylist for the first. Lady GaGa wanted a clear message for her videos, she expressed the director that she wanted a clear concept on how fame can kill and demise celebrities and what this can do to young people of today. Akerlund decided on the major themes he wanted in the video such as murder and pornography, in the opening of the video Akerlund links the fall of Lady GaGa with Alfred Hitchcock's film "Vertigo". There are many other links to media within this video, the scene in which Lady GaGa kills her "boyfriend" hs several references such as GaGa's outfit which has been compared to the look of Minnie Mouse. Akerlund also had her hide the "poison" in her ring, similar to Lucrezia Borgia, these intertextual references links to the ideas of Goodwin and attract attention from the audience GaGa is appealing too.

Akerlund uses his own personal experience with music to create links with visuals and lyrics, GaGa stands out in her own way by making statements, in one particular scene GaGa makes out with a female trio know as Snake of Eden. As a rock band they link to GaGa's past as a rock club dancer. However in the video GaGa kisses them on the line "loving in you is cherry pie", Akerlund shows the concept that oving a woman is sweeter than loving a man as GaGa's "boyfriend" betrays her in the video.

The video recieved positive reviews though some critics described the dead models as "stomach turning" yet Daniel Kreps the Rolling Stones writer said that it was "brimming with cinematic style".But this did not stop some commenting that it seeed a little self indulgent. Akerlund was proud of the piece and the video was awarded "Best Art Direction" and "Best Special Effects" at the VMA's. Akerlund soon signed up for GaGa's next instalment "Telephone" featuring Beyonce Knowles.

Both artist and director wanted this to be a pop history moment, the video starts directly where "Paparazzi" left off with GaGa in jail. The plot continues with Beyonce breaking her out, the car which is used is great intertextual link. It is the famous "Pussy-Wagon" from Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill", there are other examples such as when GaGa and Beyonce where American Flag inspired outfits and cameo appearances from MTV and singer Tyrese Gibson.

Akerlund main focus of the video is of course both GaGa and Beyonce, because of their fame together the record company and the plot demanded equal atention for both. There are many links with the visuals and lyrics, Akerlun did this by way of the costumes, particulary with GaGa as she wears a broken telephone on her head, a direct link to the title of the song.

Akerlund also used the medias past questionings of GaGa's sex within the video; at the beginning when GaGa is led to her cell she is then stripped of her clothes, the guards make a comment "I told you she didn't have a dick". GaGa sexuality is constanly questioned by the media, Akerlund seems to have fun with this idea as the artist makes out with both men and women in her videos, and there are some dance sequences in which she wears very little emphasising her "feminine" figure.

At the MTV Awards it was given "Best Video of the Year" many critics commented that Akerlund and GaGa were entering the music video stage which only artists such as Madonna and Michael Jackson had made big. Akerlund was amazed by the reception and loved the style which he and GaGa had created. He expressed his interest in continuing on the story as he felt the plot had drawn in alot from the audience.